This spicy Indian potato curry is super easy to make — you can pull it off in under 30 minutes. Serve it with a khichdi, pulao or with a flatbread like roti or naan for a quick, delicious meal. Vegan, gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free.
Here’s a totally delicious and exquisitely simple Potato Curry that goes perfectly with the Instant Pot Khichdi with Mung Bean Sprouts I shared Thursday.
If you are someone who likes Indian food but finds it daunting to cook, recipes like the khichdi and this curry are the perfect recipes to start with. They are foolproof, require a minimum of ingredients, and you’ll be so happy with yourself for cooking up the perfect meal, you might actually want to cook Indian food every day for the rest of your life.
Just kidding.
Or maybe not.
Anyhoo, to make a long story short, this Potato Curry really delivers, flavor-wise, health-wise, and ease-of-making-it-wise.
It comes together in under 30 minutes, so let’s get started.
Ingredients for Easy, Spicy Potato Curry:
- Potatoes. Use a gold or red potato for this. A russet will work at a pinch, but russets are not ideal in curries because they break down too easily and get very floury, changing the texture of the curry.
- Onions
- Vegetable oil
- Cumin seeds
- Mustard seeds
- Curry leaves
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Turmeric
- Garam masala
- Cayenne or any red pepper powder
- Cilantro (optional)
How to make an easy, spicy Potato Curry:
- Start out by cutting 5 medium gold or red potatoes into a fairly small dice– no bigger than half an inch. Crush a 1/2-inch piece of ginger and 3 cloves of garlic along with 1 tsp of cumin into a coarse paste with a mortar and pestle or in a food processor.
- Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and when they start to sputter, add the onions and saute until translucent.
- Add the curry leaves along with the crushed cumin, ginger and garlic. Saute for a few seconds.
- Add the potatoes with the turmeric, garam masala and cayenne. Give it all a good stir, add two cups of water, and bring the curry to a boil.
- Cover the saucepan with a lid and let the curry cook 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender. If you want your curry to thicken a bit, you can crush some of the potatoes with a ladle.
- Add salt and garnish, if you wish, with cilantro. You can also add a squeeze of lemon for more flavor. Serve hot.
How to serve the Potato Curry:
- This potato curry is especially delightful with the simple Instant Pot Khichdi, because its spiciness perfectly complements the rather plain khichdi.
- You can also serve it with a simple pulao, like this Eggplant Pulao,
- The curry also is great scooped up with a roti or a naan.
If you make this curry, be sure to let me know in the comments below, or take a photo and post to Instagram. Tag me @HolyCowVegan. I’d love to see!
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Looking for more tasty curry recipes?
Mirch ka Salan, chili peppers in a peanut curry sauce
Instant Chana Masala
South Indian Vegetable Curry
Vegan Mango Curry
Vegan Baked One Pot Chickpea Curry with Cauliflower and Potatoes
Easy Vegan Thai Green Curry
Turmeric Root Curry with Green Peas
Learn how to make a Basic Tomato Onion Sauce for quick Indian curries in an Instant Pot.
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Easy, Spicy Potato Curry Recipe:
Easy Spicy Potato Curry
Equipment
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- 5 medium potatoes (red or yellow potatoes, chopped into a 1/2-inch dice)
- 1 medium onion (finely diced)
- 1/2 inch piece ginger
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne (or any red pepper powder)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp cilantro (chopped, for garnish. Optional)
Instructions
- Crush a 1/2-inch piece of ginger and 3 cloves of garlic along with 1 tsp of cumin into a coarse paste with a mortar and pestle or in a food processor.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the mustard seeds and when they start to sputter, add the onions. Saute until the onion turns translucent.
- Add the curry leaves along with the crushed cumin, ginger and garlic. Saute for a few seconds.
- Add the potatoes along with the turmeric, garam masala and cayenne. Give it all a good stir, add two cups of water, and bring the curry to a boil.
- Cover the saucepan with a lid and let the curry cook 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender. If you want your curry to thicken a bit, you can crush some of the potatoes with a ladle.
- Add salt and garnish, if you wish, with cilantro. Serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition
I love how simple this recipe is. We made it last night and I served it with some brown rice. Everyone was polishing their plates. 🙂
So happy to hear! 🙂
This looks delicious… with a perfect selection of spices… Hopefully I can make this in the near future… When I saw the picture, I was expecting tomatoes because the sauce is so read. Is it just the cayenne that is making it red?
Hi Ruth, it’s all of the powdered spices. The color you get may vary based on the kind of pepper and garam masala you use, but it’ll taste the same. 🙂 The garam masala I used for this also already had Kashmiri red chilis in it — they add color without heat. You can use paprika to achieve a similar color.